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Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#41

Post by Ensorceled »

0_____0 wrote: post #34
deregulateMed wrote: post #33

I'm on the other side of the issue. I have 10000 subscribers with a 0.6% Spam rate. That's technically high, despite me getting all emails voluntarily and not even offering a freebie for signing up. Anyway, can't use Facebook/IG/Reddit/Twitter because of the algorithm. Can't email more than 4 times a year due to spam filters. I still pay hundreds of dollars a year to reach people via email octopus and Amazon.... And…

How is it that you're limited to 4x/year whereas many vendors will happily send me marketing email once a week without issue?

Not enough people are marking those as spam ...

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#42

Post by pwinnski »

It's clearly not just you, based on the other comments, but I use my RSS Reader (InoReader) for quicker bits of reading/scanning/art/comics, so email works just right for me.

I have filters for each newsletter, so I don't actually think of it much as "email," but as "let me go check and see which newsletters have new issues to read today now that I have time for newsletter reading." Checking just now, there are 18 individual titles under my "Lists" heading in Fastmail, of which six are bold, indicating something new to read.

For me, sending those newsletters to RSS would be a step backward, and having to remember to go visit the websites in question would be two steps backward, so I guess I'm the target market for the status quo!

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#43

Post by [deleted] »

troydavis wrote: post #8

My RSS reader service also provides an email address for email-only subscriptions: https://feedbin.com/blog/2016/02/03/subscribe-to-email-newsl... . I read email newsletters in the same place as RSS. I'm subscribed to a few low-volume Twitter searches too ( https://feedbin.com/blog/2018/01/11/feedbin-is-the-best-way-... ).

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#44

Post by mrlatinos »

deregulateMed wrote: post #33

I'm on the other side of the issue. I have 10000 subscribers with a 0.6% Spam rate. That's technically high, despite me getting all emails voluntarily and not even offering a freebie for signing up. Anyway, can't use Facebook/IG/Reddit/Twitter because of the algorithm. Can't email more than 4 times a year due to spam filters. I still pay hundreds of dollars a year to reach people via email octopus and Amazon.... And…

Regardless of whether I "consented" or not, I'll mark recurring marketing/news/feedback emails as spam in Gmail. This also gives me the option to unsubscribe if Gmail finds a link. Much easier than seeking out the unsub link myself, so I use this even if it's not technically spam.

I do wish Google provided a standalone unsubscribe link. Or maybe companies shouldn't hide it in the fine print and make me fill out a form and survey. The bad apples ruin the bunch.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#45

Post by soheilpro »

ajot wrote: post #21
troydavis wrote: post #8

My RSS reader service also provides an email address for email-only subscriptions: https://feedbin.com/blog/2016/02/03/subscribe-to-email-newsl... . I read email newsletters in the same place as RSS. I'm subscribed to a few low-volume Twitter searches too ( https://feedbin.com/blog/2018/01/11/feedbin-is-the-best-way-... ).

I use Kill the newsletter for that purpose, as my RSS reader is client-side https://kill-the-newsletter.com/ https://github.com/leafac/kill-the-newsletter

Same here.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#46

Post by Ensorceled »

I get multiple newsletters in my inbox; some are daily, some weekly, some randomly.

It takes no time at all to scan them, decide if there is anything useful and then delete, flag to be read or "save to pocket".

I read the more interesting newsletters or linked articles at my leisure.

Works perfect for me.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#47

Post by Sharlin »

jasode wrote: post #25

Probably multiple forces affect sending newsletters to email inbox: - Client-side motivation : some users want to use their email as the "universal inbox". E.g. They may also send TODOs/reminders by sending emails to themselves instead of a separate app for alarms. Newsletters are just another stream of info that should conveniently go into their universal inbox. - Publisher-side motivation: email addresses are valua…

The absolutely most important reason: everyone has an email address. It’s not just the least common denominator, it’s pretty much the only common denominator. RSS practically does not exist outside the tech scene.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#48

Post by tpoacher »

My problem is not newsletters. I happily send those to a Newsletters folder via a filter.

My problem is companies sending important non-newsletter stuff in a way that is virtually indistinguishable from a filter point of view to their newsletter emails.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#49

Post by hiidrew »

One of the features I liked about Hey but as a broke graduate student couldn't justify that cost.

Easy to replicate in Gmail though: create a folder/label, filter to skip the inbox, mark as read, and go into the desired folder. Boom you have a newsfeed specific to your newsletters.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#50

Post by prawn »

0_____0 wrote: post #34
deregulateMed wrote: post #33

I'm on the other side of the issue. I have 10000 subscribers with a 0.6% Spam rate. That's technically high, despite me getting all emails voluntarily and not even offering a freebie for signing up. Anyway, can't use Facebook/IG/Reddit/Twitter because of the algorithm. Can't email more than 4 times a year due to spam filters. I still pay hundreds of dollars a year to reach people via email octopus and Amazon.... And…

How is it that you're limited to 4x/year whereas many vendors will happily send me marketing email once a week without issue?

I get emails through to my GSuite inbox from senders that I've marked as spam repeatedly (10+ times). Same from email. Same subject style and format. And they still get through. Makes me really curious about what they're doing to get through.

90% of the spam that escapes my spam folder is web design pitches from email addresses of the format firstnamelastname123@gmail.com - always GMail...

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